French President Nicolas Sarkozy has for the first time directly accused Iran of seeking to acquire nuclear weapons and called for tougher sanctions against the country.
"Iran is trying to acquire the nuclear bomb. I have said that this is not acceptable, and I'm telling the French people that it is unacceptable," the president said Thursday during an interview on France 2 and TF1, two major French television channels.
The Iranian nuclear issue "is an extremely difficult matter, but France is not looking for war," Sarkozy said appearing to be distancing himself from remarks attributed to his Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner at the weekend.
The minister had caused a diplomatic storm Sunday when he said " the world should prepare for the worst, and the worst is war" while referring to the dispute over Iran's nuclear program.
The foreign minister later retracted the remarks amid criticism saying that his remarks were only intended to draw attention to the seriousness of the matter.
The president said that the international community should continue working to convince Iran to renounce its ambitions "just as we did with North Korea and Libya. Through discussions, dialogue and sanctions," Sarkozy said.
"If the current sanctions are not effective, let us go for tougher sanctions," Sarkozy said adding that Iran had every right to acquire civilian nuclear capabilities.
Turning to the comments by Kouchner, the president said, "I would not have gone as far as to use the word war." "Kouchner has already explained the context in which he used the word," Sarkozy said before adding that the foreign minister was doing an " excellent" job on international issues ranging from Darfur to Lebanon.
The minister "is bringing honor to France," the president said.
Earlier on Thursday France had called on its European partners to institute their own "additional economic measures," in order to force Iran to comply with the demands of the international community.
Speaking to the press during a weekly press briefing, presidential office spokesman David Martinon said that these " additional measures could even be taken without a common agreement between the Europeans."
The additional measures would include "recommendations" to European companies calling on them "not to bid for new tenders in Iran, and on financial institutions to scale back their operations, to lower their investments," the spokesman said.
Source: Xinhua
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